At many tech start-ups and scale-ups, one of the most difficult challenges is attracting the right talent. How do you find someone with the perfect experience when you’re innovating and there’s no user manual for what you’re doing? And even if you do, what if your organisation needs to pivot to a new opportunity and switch up the focus?
Well, if you really are blazing a trail, it’s probably fair to say that the candidate with the perfect experience actually doesn't exist…yet. So it’s all about finding people with a can-do attitude and transferable skills.
Start-up years are like dog years. If you give someone with the right mindset just a few months in a role, they’re already an old hand. And if the organisation pivots? Big deal. They’ll be ready to adapt, or hopefully be the one driving the change.
Capitalising on the Great Resignation
OK, so maybe that's a helpful guide for who you’re looking for, but how do you find them?
If the last couple of years have taught us anything, it’s that plenty of people are thriving with new ways of working. And while it wouldn’t be fair to say that remote work is for everyone, it’s also clear that if you want to recruit and retain a high-performing team, concepts like presenteeism, non-negotiable long-distance daily commutes, and no-effort office cultures just don’t cut it any more.
That’s why at Enroly, our remote-first approach and conveniently located office for those who want to use it, has been a big part of our success when growing the team. In fact, with our founders located between the UK and Australia, it’s actually in our DNA, and it positioned us perfectly when the world changed.
That change also supercharged a revolution in innovation in EdTech, and simultaneously challenged a wave of talented higher education professionals to look for something new, whether that’s a fresh culture, remote working options, or a different type of business. Catching that wave has been an exciting ride, and being in the position to retrain great people and nurture talent in new directions has been rewarding.
But it’s a win-win: colleagues who have joined us from higher education have an invaluable knowledge of the challenges we’re solving and feel a genuine empathy for our clients and their struggles. And this really goes a long way in our business. That’s how we’ve been able to hire top Product and Account Managers with wide-ranging and valuable industry experience, who are thriving in a completely different type of role.
The same goes for our engineering team, who have joined us from roles ranging from finance, retail and other highly automated industries, to bring those much-needed skills to higher education administration and help change our sector.
So, what’s the secret?
At Enroly we have prioritised several initiatives to create a culture where our team feels valued.
We’ve adopted OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) and worked on ensuring we have professional development plans for everyone. We want our people to feel like they’re going places, just like the company.
We’ve worked hard to develop and communicate our mission and vision, and actively promote this to ensure that colleagues understand how they fit into the picture. We do this through regular town halls, away days and objective-setting so that everyone feels part of something bigger.
We’ve added a creative benefits package so that our staff feel valued. This ranges from a working-from-home budget so that everyone can kit out a comfortable home office, through to monthly free lunches, quarterly away-days, health and life insurance, and discount schemes for the team.
So, the ultimate takeaway: don’t be narrow in your definition of which type of experience is valuable. Diversity is a strength, and by creating a culture that people want to be part of, you are setting up your team to achieve great things.
Do you work for a university and want to know more about Enroly? Book a demo
Are you looking for a new role? We’re hiring